Journal of Marketing Education

Journal of Marketing Education (JMED) is an important academic source for the progression of innovative research and experiential wisdom, both of which enhance the knowledge of marketing educators. The primary objective of this study is to provide a retrospection on the emergence and growth of JMED using scientometrics—in simple terms, is the quantification of science. Applying bibliometric methods, the top articles, authors, and topics in JMED titles are identified. A thematic analysis groups JMED articles into 10 semantic clusters: team environment, innovative teaching techniques, students’ evaluation of teaching, qualitative assessment of marketing outlets, technological diffusion in marketing education, experiential learning, marketing values and ethics, self-regulated learning, objective exams, and multiple experiential techniques and student learning. Among these, technological diffusion in marketing education, marketing values and ethics, and multiple experiential techniques and student learning are the most popular and evolving. Apart from informing JMED readers about possible future avenues of the journal, this study may provide valuable information to its editorial board.

Online learning is a powerful option for professional development in various careers, including marketing. However, massive open online courses (MOOCs) tend to face an issue of course dropouts, and this cannot only be attributed to factors like course content or value. Social interactions among students and interest-generating elements of MOOCs are equally important elements of online learning ecosystems. Therefore, this study approaches the problem from the perspective of the social exchange theory with insights into the cognitive evaluation theory to predict the effects of social interactions and gamification rewards on the process of studies. The data from an experiment and a subsequent survey of marketing course participants were used to analyze student satisfaction and dropouts through the lens of the social exchange theory and to see the effects of expected and unexpected gamification rewards. This contributes to the knowledge about factors that influence online course discontinuation, provides managerial and educational insights on dropout reduction, and specifies directions for further studies on the use of gamification elements in MOOCs.

The online classroom is self-directed, where students decide when and how often they access their course material. Even in the traditional classroom, students have shown a propensity to shift their time allocation to the last minute, so it is not clear what happens when they have full control over their learning schedules. Our interest is whether this self-directed learning environment produces similar harmful binge behavior as observed with online television, where memory and satisfaction with the experience decrease over time. With access to clickstream data from an online e-educator, we found 62% of the sample binged their learning by concentrating their studies within the semester rather than distributing their online activity throughout. Two types of binge learning emerged as significant: Front-bingers, who accessed the majority of their education early, performed more similarly over time to those who spaced their learning activities. Back-bingers, who accessed the majority of their material late in the semester, did not perform as well. To help us better understand these findings, we used a relatively new measure of behavior called “clumpiness” to summarize their overall online activity. We discuss our findings and their implications for online education and marketing course design.

Technology and media have created skill needs that modern educators are compelled to address to stay relevant. As a result, an emerging educational tool in marketing and media courses is the integration of third-party certifications that give students an industry credential for current topics or media platforms (i.e., Google, HubSpot, Hootsuite, etc.). To understand the diffusion of these certifications among educators, how they are being integrated, and current perceptions of their effectiveness, we conducted a cross-disciplinary survey of 122 college faculty who teach digital marketing and media topics. Findings revealed that certifications enjoy high awareness, with a small number receiving higher adoption rates. Users report a variety of benefits to themselves and students, along with some challenges. We also identify sources of major perception gaps between users and nonusers. These findings suggest that certifications are a permanent course fixture and are perceived as directly contributing to job and career readiness. An understanding of current perceptions and practices can guide educators in improving their use of certifications as well as industry partners looking to facilitate adoption and positive educator experiences.

The rapid pace of technological change taking place today makes it even more important for marketing educators to incorporate relevant technical and higher level meta-skills in their digital marketing courses. We review the pedagogical literature on skill development and project-based learning and detail two live course projects designed to help students develop technical skills related to digital marketing in addition to important meta-skills involving creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. We evaluate the impact of the projects through a direct and indirect assessment process. Findings suggest that live project–based learning can support the development of the technical and meta-skills necessary for students to adapt to uncertainty and ambiguity and become future proof and real-world ready as they enter the workforce. We discuss the benefits and challenges associated with moving digital marketing education from conceptual to real-life projects and highlight pedagogical recommendations for educators who want to integrate live project-based learning into their courses.

Peer learning, a pedagogical approach whereby students are partnered together to have one student actively help another student learn predetermined content or skills, has long been utilized as an effective complement to more traditional instructional methods across a wide range of educational disciplines. This approach has been found to reduce the stress of learning, increase student engagement, and yield benefits to both the tutor and the tutee to a roughly equal degree. Yet, pedagogical research to this point has mostly failed to explore the usefulness of this approach to marketing and sales education. In the present research, we examine the effectiveness of peer-learning applications in a sales context and discuss marketing educators' implications. More specifically, we assess college sales students’ perceptions of peer-learning role-play exercise and further examine whether peer-learning exercises can improve students’ abilities. The results indicate that peer-learning exercises are not only enjoyed by students but are capable of producing objective performance improvement for both introductory and advanced students.

Free-riding is a serious challenge in group projects. While there are various methods to reduce free-riding, marketing educators still face a difficult task when selecting an appropriate method for their course. In this study, we propose a students’ preferences-based approach that supports marketing educators with the selection of methods to detect and handle free-riding. To measure these preferences, students completed an online survey based on a choice task about two methods to detect free-riding and a ranking task about four methods to handle free-riding (n = 254). Their answers were analyzed using chi-squared tests, Borda scores, and rank-ordered logit models. The results show that (a) neither Dutch nor international students have a clear preference for one of the two detection methods (the reporting system vs. the process evaluation system), (b) grade discussion (a possible reduction of the free-rider’s grade based on a conversation with the course coordinator about each student’s contribution) is the most preferred method to handle free-riding, and (c) international students have a stronger preference for stricter handling methods. Marketing educators can apply the proposed approach, or use our specific findings, for designing methods to reduce free-riding in their courses.

The principles of marketing course usually includes coverage of marketing ethics and social responsibility. This study attempts to gain an understanding of students’ perceptions of the importance of marketing ethics and social responsibility and to see if these perceptions can be enhanced. Students were provided one class period lecture on the topics with prelecture and postlecture evaluation. The study addressed marketing ethics and social responsibility as distinct constructs. Postlecture there was an improvement in marketing ethics perceptions for all majors, with nonmarketing business majors showing the most improvement. Postlecture perceptions of the importance of social responsibility increased significantly with nonbusiness majors showing the lowest level of improvement. Changing perceptions of importance can motivate long-term engagement in beliefs about the significance and value of business ethics and social responsibility.

Before the pandemic, loneliness was already a burden affecting the health and well-being of students. The COVID-19 pandemic, with mandated isolations and closures of campuses, amplifies feelings of isolation and loneliness. Previous work shows that isolated and lonely individuals experience a lack of perceived control, but educators have little understanding of the type of pedagogy that can help students deal with these emotions. Two studies demonstrate that instructors can foster perceived control in their students and provide guidance on best practices for teaching during a pandemic. Given the desire to discover the new normal for teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, this research has important implications for educational practices and instructional techniques to help students manage the loneliness, isolation, and lack of perceived control during these unprecedented times.